Hmmm... If honestly, I have some doubts about the correctness of some pictures. For example, epaulets on the third picture contain 2 and 3 stars with indication of Colonel en Second and Colonel-Major respectively, but we know that such epaulets indicate ranks of General de Brigade (2 stars) and and General de Division (3 stars).Actually, I remember other pictures of same artist, devoted to British Navy of the same period, with plenty of mistakes.

Dorward_Bis wrote:Hmmm... If honestly, I have some doubts about the correctness of some pictures. For example, epaulets on the third picture contain 2 and 3 stars with indication of Colonel en Second and Colonel-Major respectively, but we know that such epaulets indicate ranks of General de Brigade (2 stars) and and General de Division (3 stars)

What a shame! I thought these pictures were interesting because they illustrated specialists, such as farrier, surgeons, and trumpet-majors, that are absent from most charts. But of course, you are right about the stars on the epaulets.

There's an explanation for the stars on the epaulets. These pictures are from a site dedicated to the uniforms of the Hundred Days, and so depict how the armies would have appeared at Waterloo. In this case (the Empress Dragoons), the "regimental colonel" during the Waterloo Campaign was General de Division Letort de Lorville, which is why the "colonel" here is depicted wearing a general's uniform.

Oh - I see. Thanks a lot for your explanation - everything becomes clearer now. So, looks like those Dragoons were some kind of a privilege troops with a usual "rank + 2" insignia system. Btw, same system was used for the Soviet NKVD troops (for example, the NKVD Lieutenant had rank insignias of the army Captain etc).